Page 59 - John Francis Ryan

RAF Sandtoft opened in February 1944 as a satellite for 11 Base, RAF Lindholme in No. 1 Group,
Bomber Command. 1667 HCU and its Halifax bombers moved in from RAF Faldingworth on 20 th
February and was the only unit based at Sandtoft. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit was also flying
Lancaster I and III’s from Sandtoft during early 1945. The airfield is 9 miles east of Doncaster on
the South Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire border.

The station had so many crashes it became known locally as 'Prangtoft'. The station moved from
No. 1 Group control to No.7 Group (Training) in November 1944, with the airfield closing to
operational flying and put into a care and maintenance on 10 November 1945. It remained
th
inactive until allocated to the United States Air Force on 1 April 1953. However, the station was
st
th
never occupied by the U.S.A.F. It was returned to Ministry of Defence control on 8 September
1955 and put up for disposal. In 1968 part of the former airfield was sold to what was to become
the Trolley bus Museum at Sandtoft. Other parts were converted for industrial use. On the
southern taxi track a flying club was established, using one of the perimeter tracks as a runway.
The airfields runways remained relatively intact until the late 1980s. During the last decade of the
20th Century large surfaces were converted with concrete to serve as car parks for imported
vehicles from the continent.